THE WAY WE LIVE NOW: 1-12-03: QUESTIONS FOR KEVIN MITNICK

THE WAY WE LIVE NOW: 1-12-03: QUESTIONS FOR KEVIN MITNICK; Connected Again

By Clive Thompson

Published: January 12, 2003

Q: You were the F.B.I.'s most wanted hacker -- in jail in 1988 and then again from 1995 to 2000 for breaking into and tampering with corporate networks. When you got out, the Feds said you couldn't use the Internet for three years. What was it like being cut off?

It was a huge impediment to getting employment. The judge had been dealing with me for 10 or 12 years, and she bought into a lot of the myth of Kevin Mitnick -- that I could launch nuclear missiles by whistling into a phone.

So how do you check your e-mail?

I can have someone connect my laptop to the Internet -- like my girlfriend -- then hit ''send'' and ''receive'' for me.

So you're allowed to look at an Internet terminal but not use it?

It's kind of ridiculous. I'm just doing what they want me to do, because they're in charge of me -- whatever makes them happy. I basically can't go to the bathroom without getting permission, if it's an electronic toilet.

The ban on your Net surfing ends later this month. What's the first Web site you'll visit?

Labmistress.com. That's a Web site run by my girlfriend, and she keeps a daily blog on my activities and her activities. I wonder what she's writing that I don't know about.

When you were in jail, how did your fellow prisoners treat you?

They respected me for my skills and my intelligence. But at the same time they disrespected me because I didn't do it for money. All these guys in there said that if they had my skills, their wallets would have been fat, they would have had ''big bank.''

Did anyone ask you to hack for them?

I had one Colombian drug dealer offer me $5 million cash if, after I got out, I could somehow rig the computer system so he'd be released early.

You've written a book, ''The Art of Deception,'' about how hackers sneak into corporations using ''social engineering.'' What is that?

It's basically using persuasion, influence and manipulation to deceive people who are trusted within companies, government, business. You get them to reveal information -- or to perform some action -- that allows the attacker access.

O.K., so how would you break into my e-mail account?

I could pose as a Yahoo rep claiming that there's been some sort of fault, and somebody else is getting your e-mail, and we're going to have to remove your account and reinstall it. So what we'll do is reset the current password that you have -- and by the way, what is it?

The F.B.I. and C.I.A. are warning about attacks by terrorist hackers. Is this a real danger?

I don't know the capabilities of our enemies. But I found it quite easy to circumvent security at certain phone companies throughout the United States. So if an inquisitive kid can do it, why can't a cyberterrorist do it?

Last season, you appeared on the TV show ''Alias'' as a C.I.A. agent. That's a nice twist.

The executive producer, J. J. Abrams, was a fan of mine. He was a creator of ''Felicity,'' and on one of the episodes there he had a ''Free Kevin'' bumper sticker. Then he cast me as a C.I.A. agent because he thought it would be hilarious. What my character was doing was setting up a bogus Web site.

Wait -- I thought you weren't allowed to touch any computers except your own laptop.

They actually set a fake one up. Well, there was a real one, but they unplugged the keyboard so I was typing on a keyboard that was not connected to anything. And I had to get permission from the Feds to do it.

Speaking of acting, how do I know this is the real Kevin Mitnick?

That's a very good question. I could be call-forwarding Kevin Mitnick's phone to me. Clive Thompson